When Is It Time To Quit?

June 29, 1986|by JOHN KUNDA, The Morning Call

Items of interest heard along the way:

Maybe by the time you read this,Steve Carlton will be in uniform somewhere. He apparently has told the Phillies that he still thinks he has some wins in his left arm and that he still wants to chase some reachable milestones. It makes you wonder why it is so difficult for athletes to face themselves and say, "hey, the time has come to call it a career." Certainly it's not the money. Perhaps it's an ego thing, but whatever it is it becames a little sad to see a superstar attempt to stretch out a career, only to fall flat on his face. Pete Rose might have hit the nail on the head the other day when he said, "Carlton's age (41) isn't a factor . . . he's in better shape than most of the pitchers in the game today, but it's his arm that is the major concern." The Reds were one of a half-dozen or so teams that were mentioned as possibilities for Carlton. You might remember earlier in the spring when Rod Carew found it difficult to say "goodbye" to a great career. When the Angels dropped him, he put himself on the market without any luck. Why not just bow out gracefully and let everybody sing a chorus of "thanks for the memories?"

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Hal Grossman and Rollie Massimino, who run the Lehigh Valley Big Five Basketball Camp, have had some headliners talking to the kids, and they'll have them around again this summer. But one of the "stars" who has appeared at the camp, George Schauer, always has the kids rolling in the aisles. Schauer calls himself "Crazy George," and the tag fits him perfectly. He does crazy things with a basketball, something like Max Patkin does with a baseball and bat. They are the "clowns" of sports. Schauer will be at the Big Five Camp for both the July 7-11 session as well as the July 28-Aug. 1 session. He'll be joined by Harold Pressley, the former Villanova star who was the No. 1 draft pick of the Sacramento Kings in the recent draft. Also scheduled to appear is Blaine McClain, another former Villanova player now with the Pacers. Grossman says that the July 7-11 session is sold out, but there are still openings for the second session.

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Let's see, old-timers Jack Nicklaus won the Masters and Raymond Floyd won the U.S. Open, so wouldn't it be fitting to have Lee Trevino win the British Open? A possibility of course, based on his show at Shinnecock Hills a couple of week ago. However, Golf Digest calls Trevino a longshot and has him listed at 25-1. The magazine gives Nicklaus a better shot - he's listed at 12-1. Tom Watson is the choice of Golf Digest, if for no other reason than that it was at Turnberry, the site of this year's British Open beginning July 17, that Watson carved out one of his greatest triumphs. That was in 1977 when Watson and Nicklaus staged a dramatic head-to-head battle over the final 36 holes before Watson took the championship by a stroke. Others listed at shorter odds by Golf Digest are the three dominant foreign players - Greg Norman, Seve Ballesteros and Bernhard Langer. All are at 10-1.

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To watch Greg Luzinski swing a bat again would be worth the price of admission. The Bull is scheduled to appear in the Phillies' old-timers game on Saturday, July 26 and he is listed as the designated hitter. He's not up to chasing flyballs. Joining Luzinski in the lineup will be the likes of Mike Anderson, Willie Montanez, Jay Johnstone, Bake McBride, Del Unser, Mike Ryan, Dave Cash, Terry Harmon, Denny Doyle, Don Money, Larry Christenson, Tug McGraw, Tom Underwood and Rick Wise. And the manager? You guessed it, gentle Danny Ozark.

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Who are the star quarterbacks to watch this year in college football? The Football News has listed 10 of them, some of whom are easily recognizeable and others who will be getting their feet wet this fall. The top QB in the nation should be Miami's Vinny Testaverde, who made South Florida forget Bernie Kosar in a hurry. Jamelle Holieway, Oklahoma's fancy-stepper, is another, along with Florida's Kerwin Bell; Michigan's Jim Harbaugh; Texas A.& M.'s Kevin Murray; Alabama's Mike Shula; Mississippi State's Don Smith; Stanford's John Paye; Syracuse's Don McPherson and Kentucky's Bill Ransell. Among the running backs to watch, according to Football News, are: Lorenzo White of Michigan State; Thurman Thomas, Oklahoma State; Doug Dubose, Nebraska; Paul Palmer, Temple; D.J. Dozier, Penn State (if he ever stays healthy); Brad Muster, Stanford; Jamie Morris, Michigan; Charles Gladman, Pittsburgh; Lydell Car, Oklahoma; Marc Hicks, California; Larry Emery, Wisconsin and Keith Henderson, Georgia.